Local bowl games

It’s a doubleheader to die for and, after watching the Chargers’ death march, doesn’t a double dip sound good?

But this one isn’t baseball related. We’ll cut to the chase with the Padres later, although if pitcher Andrew Cashner is near a blade, he might knife ahead.

This two-for-one slice comes with a football, and no wonder Bruce Binkowski is wearing a wide grin.

San Diego’s college bowl guru’s eyes twinkle when he recites this month’s games at Qualcomm Stadium: San Diego State-Brigham Young in the Poinsettia Bowl; UCLA-Baylor in the Holiday Bowl.

Can you say “home run” in a sport where the ball has two points?

Sure, and Binkowski’s message is clear.

“I think we far exceeded what we were going to get in both games,” he said.

How true, and how lucky for San Diego County’s college football followers. While these offerings deliver a scent of success, a peek at other bowl pairings reveals some stinkers.

Not much meat to the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl with Ball State-Central Florida. And, hard to believe, tickets remain for the Central Michigan-Western Kentucky epic in the Little Caesars Bowl.

Instead of burning the roof of your mouth, the Poinsettia and Holiday bowls roll off one’s tongue. No wonder Binkowski is licking his chops.

“San Diego State against BYU, we always wanted that matchup,” Binkowski said, and boy, don’t the local BYU haters agree.

“And to have a UCLA team that had a great season, and Baylor, winner of four of its last five, is an offensive powerhouse. Both UCLA and Baylor put a lot of points on the board.”

It’s two marquees filled with four teams that should direct plenty of bodies toward Mission Valley. But be careful, fans: Some stadium seats haven’t been used much, and why are we talking about the Chargers again?

“I think we are the envy of a lot of bowl games,” Binkowski said. “We’ve got two of the better matchups in the entire bowl schedule.”

It almost wasn’t so, and when does anything go as planned in college football? Binkowski wasn’t hanging with Baylor until it did a Texas two-step to the front of the Holiday Bowl line.

Binkowski got Waco’s team when the BCS presented some wacko numbers. With the final standings formulated, Mid-American Conference champion Northern Illinois trumped the Big 12’s Oklahoma, edging the Sooners for the Orange Bowl invitation.

Binkowski quickly rustled through his drawer for additional RSVPs, including a school he thought was booked.

“We thought Oklahoma was going to the Orange Bowl, so we figured Baylor would go somewhere else,” Binkowski said. “We weren’t even thinking about Baylor; then, all of a sudden when Northern Illinois jumped up, the whole lineup changed. Baylor was sitting there for us, and we said ‘wow.’ ”

With Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and TCU off the board, Binkowski scrambled with a winning audible.